Baseball

On the way to the Patriots' 37-21 season Luther Bramblett won his 400th game.

New Records Set by Baseball Patriots

May 8, 2013

The St. Catharine College baseball team won 37 games this season, tied for the most victories since the Patriots joined the NAIA in 2009. And, along the way, head coach Luther Bramblett picked up his 400th career victory with the Bat Pats.

In addition to the team milestones reached there were also individual players who entered the SC record books. New career marks were set in two categories and single season records were also rewritten.

Bramblett, who now owns a 431-196 career mark following the recent 37-21 campaign, said, “We were among the leaders statistically in many areas of the Mid-South Conference. We tied the school record for wins against the toughest schedule we have had since we have been in the NAIA. We also won the 600th game since the program started back in the early nineties.”

One team record established this year was the number of base on balls issued to Patriot batters. The 249 walks the team received came largely due to the 40 received by CJ Engelstad, which set a new record, and the 34 to Adrian Garcia which now ranks third on the single season list. Jeremy Turpin now ranks second all-time in walks with 90 and Tyler Mischel is third with 84 free passes.

Others who climbed up the offensive record book were senior outfielder Carlos Hernandez whose .356 career average now ranks third and Turpin whose 128 career runs scored puts him in fifth place in the record book.

Hernandez had 74 hits this season which is the fourth most in Patriot history and KC Mejia’s 72 safeties ties him for fifth place. Mischel also set a career mark for being hit by the most pitches as the senior designated hitter was plunked 42 times in his career.

Four Bat Pats also etched their names in Patriot lore for the number of games played. Adrian Garcia (57 games played this season) is now second for a single season while Engelstad and Mejia played in 56 contests which ties them for third. Turpin now ranks number one in school history for most career games played with 201, eclipsing the old record of Justin Witt who played in 196 from 2007-2010.

On the mound, senior right-hander Matt Wagner now has his name in the record book three times. His five saves this season ranks fourth and his nine career saves is tied for second. Wagner is also second in career appearances with 59. Junior southpaw Andrew Nelson appeared in 21 games this season which is tied for second and junior Cory Klinger is now fourth in career appearances with 54.

The SC pitching staff also made some news nationally as they were eighth in the nation among all NAIA teams in strikeouts with 404. They ranked 12th in ERA with a mark of 3.00.

“We have a strong corps coming back next year,” added Bramblett. “We do lose our entire starting outfield (Turpin, Hernandez, Engelstad) and Andrada (Joey) behind the plate. But we have guys returning who will give us a good chance to compete.”